How do West African immigrants construct their health practices in Cabo Verde? – a qualitative content analysis study
(2014) MPHN11 20141Social Medicine and Global Health
- Abstract
- Background: Migrant health remains a rather under researched topic, particularly within the migration from and to countries within West Africa. For Cabo Verde, a ten-island archipelago, approximately 500 kilometers off the coast of Senegal, immigration is a fairly recent phenomenon and has caught the country off guard. The aim of this study was to explore how West African immigrants living in Cabo Verde, and particularly on the main island of Santiago, construct their health practices. It was also the aim to generate new knowledge that can be used to inform and guide national health policies towards a more inclusive and migrant sensitive scenario.
Methods: Sixteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with West African... (More) - Background: Migrant health remains a rather under researched topic, particularly within the migration from and to countries within West Africa. For Cabo Verde, a ten-island archipelago, approximately 500 kilometers off the coast of Senegal, immigration is a fairly recent phenomenon and has caught the country off guard. The aim of this study was to explore how West African immigrants living in Cabo Verde, and particularly on the main island of Santiago, construct their health practices. It was also the aim to generate new knowledge that can be used to inform and guide national health policies towards a more inclusive and migrant sensitive scenario.
Methods: Sixteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with West African immigrants living in Cabo Verde. The informants were purposively selected to account for the existing diversity in the study population. Interviews took place in the cities of Praia and Santa Catarina, both in the island of Santiago, between mid-January and mid-March 2014. Data were analyzed following the steps of qualitative content analysis.
Findings: Three themes related to different aspects of West African immigrants’ health practices in Cabo Verde were developed from the analysis. “Living in the crossroads between two worlds” reflects how the practices and beliefs carried from their home countries impact immigrants’ health practices in Cabo Verde; “Hospital – an unwanted need” explains how immigrants’ decision to visit the hospital is guided by contradictory feelings and “Challenging the established norms” discusses the alternatives to the institutionalized health norms and procedures used by the immigrants.
Conclusion: West African immigrants construct their health practices in Cabo Verde as a weighted result of the health practices and beliefs brought from their home countries and the new habits adopted whilst already living in the islands. Health education campaigns exclusively targeting West African immigrants but also training and sensitization of health practitioners are needed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4522828
- author
- Esperança, Sérgio LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MPHN11 20141
- year
- 2014
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- immigrants, West Africa, public health, health practices, Cabo Verde, migration, traditional medicine, discrimination, qualitative content analysis
- language
- English
- id
- 4522828
- date added to LUP
- 2014-07-14 10:30:32
- date last changed
- 2014-09-04 08:34:32
@misc{4522828,
abstract = {{Background: Migrant health remains a rather under researched topic, particularly within the migration from and to countries within West Africa. For Cabo Verde, a ten-island archipelago, approximately 500 kilometers off the coast of Senegal, immigration is a fairly recent phenomenon and has caught the country off guard. The aim of this study was to explore how West African immigrants living in Cabo Verde, and particularly on the main island of Santiago, construct their health practices. It was also the aim to generate new knowledge that can be used to inform and guide national health policies towards a more inclusive and migrant sensitive scenario.
Methods: Sixteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with West African immigrants living in Cabo Verde. The informants were purposively selected to account for the existing diversity in the study population. Interviews took place in the cities of Praia and Santa Catarina, both in the island of Santiago, between mid-January and mid-March 2014. Data were analyzed following the steps of qualitative content analysis.
Findings: Three themes related to different aspects of West African immigrants’ health practices in Cabo Verde were developed from the analysis. “Living in the crossroads between two worlds” reflects how the practices and beliefs carried from their home countries impact immigrants’ health practices in Cabo Verde; “Hospital – an unwanted need” explains how immigrants’ decision to visit the hospital is guided by contradictory feelings and “Challenging the established norms” discusses the alternatives to the institutionalized health norms and procedures used by the immigrants.
Conclusion: West African immigrants construct their health practices in Cabo Verde as a weighted result of the health practices and beliefs brought from their home countries and the new habits adopted whilst already living in the islands. Health education campaigns exclusively targeting West African immigrants but also training and sensitization of health practitioners are needed.}},
author = {{Esperança, Sérgio}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{How do West African immigrants construct their health practices in Cabo Verde? – a qualitative content analysis study}},
year = {{2014}},
}